Igniting your Thoughts – Encourging you to ACT SPOnTaneously

The good, better, best way…

Are you one of those people who is frustrated that things are not going your way? Are you getting impatient and desperate? Are you on the verge of giving up your dreams because life seems to be going nowhere? The good news is you are not alone. There are plenty of people, including highly successful people, who on the outside are an epitome of perfection but on the inside are bitter, broken and busted. However though misery loves company, that is no consolation. The reality is that you want to change your life around and do it soon. So here is how to go about visualizing, living and enjoying your future.

Believe– To begin with there must be something clearly outlined in your mind that you believe you passionately want. This is the key to solving the majority of our problems regarding our future. Most of us have a very sketchy idea of what we want to do, achieve and appropriate to feel satisfied and happy. The problem is we use sweet and nice sounding words, most of which are intangible and difficulty to identify when describing what we want from life and our future. Using words like wanting to be happy, successful, appreciated, recognized, rich etc. are adjectives that merely describe but do not clearly point out the destination. On the other hand outline what you want to achieve and then you have a tangible goal, you can outline the way to achieve it, you can put milestones to measure your progress and most importantly you can start believing in a tangible future. Your actions will then always be aligned to moving forward towards the direction of your belief which is the tangible goal you have set for yourself. Every little progress made in that direction will motivate, inspire and reinforce your confidence. You will also see and be able to measure the progress and if you falter or stagnate you will find alternatives to re-chart your course without giving up on your goal. Even changing your goal is a way forward since you have accepted the reality and are willing to change. Good things happen when you believe and work towards your goal for you will always make progress, perhaps slowly but surely.

Be patient: Patience is a virtue that one must develop for we often tend to give up quickly in frustration. Yet patience must not be mistaken as an everlasting wait; nor must an individual mistake patience to mean doing nothing and hoping things fall in place. Patience is like the farmer tilling the land, sowing the seeds, watering it and then believing he will have a good crop if the conditions are right. As he waits the farmer inspects his crop adds fertilizers, sprays insecticides, continues to water it if required or works on draining the excess water and also plans out the steps to take care of the bumper harvest he expects. While he/ she patiently waits for the effort to bear fruit they also work towards ensuring a conducive environment to ensure the harvest is good and the fruits of the harvest are efficiently and effectively utilized. Better things will definitely happen when one is patient and works towards facilitating the attainment of the goal.

Don’t give up: This is tough because there will be numerous occasions when we realize that progress is almost at a standstill, doubts creep up and we start questioning our judgment, when critics begin to needle us with their own gloomy predictions and when we are tethering on the brink of confusion. No doubt we have to be pragmatic but that must be tempered with rational thinking, sound logic and an inbuilt self confidence. Many times we give up because we are not clear headed and we tend to exaggerate our doubts and fears; other times we give up because we cannot see ways to overcome obstacles; occasionally we give up because we succumb to criticism and barbs from others whose opinion we respect but possible they do not have the same vision as us. Find motivation to persist, seek out companions who encourage, view criticism dispassionately, learn from mistakes, keep the goal in mind and the progress attained; most of all believe, be patient and then keep persisting. Learn from couples who want a child but are unable to conceive one of their own; they don’t give up but adopt. They believe they can be a complete family, they believe in their ability to make it a loving family and they don’t give up because they cannot have their own child but adopt one to make their belief come true. The best things surely come to those who do not give up.

Try these:

Revisit your childhood dreams/ fantasies. List out 3-5 dreams that you haven’t realized yet but are keen to make it happen. Map out a plan to attain that within a reasonable time span.

Outline a plan to attain any two or more of the following

To increase your income by 10 %

To increase your savings by 10%

To be engaged in a social service activity

To improve your own health/ quality of your life

To make family time more meaningful and fulfilling

To learn a new skill or trade or expand on your hobby or change your life style.